irssi is a command-line IRC client. When properly configured, it can automatically reconnect and re-identify to channels without any user intervention. It is ideal for use within a reliable server shell, where your session is maintained between uses.

Open any scripts you decide to use with a text editor and read the first few lines. Some scripts require configuration to be used properly. For example, you will need to set your email address to have private messages emailed to you.

To start a script automatically, create a symbolic link to it in
~/.irssi/scripts/autorun/

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mkdir ~/.irssi/scripts/autorun

cd ~/.irssi/scripts/autorun/

ln -s ../ascii.pl ascii.pl

ln -s ../autoaway.pl autoaway.pl

ln -s ../email_privmsgs.pl email_privmsgs.pl

ln -s ../nm.pl nm.pl

If you prefer to start your scripts manually, or irssi is already running and you don’t want to restart it, use
/script load scriptname.pl

Step 4 – Configure irssi

The following is my
.irssi/config file. Add your commonly used networks and enter your personal information. If you decided against zenbarn, set the theme attribute to the your custom theme.

screen keeps a shell running even after you’ve disconnected from it. If you’re running irssi locally, you may not need to use screen. Enter the single command screen and read any information it prints. Once you are prompted for a command, start irssi by entering irssi

There is already an excellent guide on using irssi with screen, so I will only go over the basics below.

Detach from the screen and return to your normal shell with Control+A, then press D

Re-attach to the running screen with
screen -rd

Switch the currently active channel with Alt+(Channel #)

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apt-fast downloads repositories (package sources) and packages in parallel, which can greatly shorten the time it takes to update a system. In contrast, the default package manager (apt-get or aptitude) downloads repositories and packages sequentially.

If you don’t have the add-apt-repository tool, install it by running
sudo apt-get install software-properties-common

If the package configuration asks which package manager to use, choose apt-get if you are running Ubuntu, or aptitude if you are running Debian.

When asked for how many connections to use, enter a reasonable number based on your connection. If you have a fast connection, the default of 15 will most likely suit you. If you’re on a slower connection, consider entering 5 or 10. Try different values to find what works best.

You can reconfigure at any time by running
sudo dpkg-reconfigure apt-fast

Step 2 – Create an alias

Add the following to the end of your
~/.bashrc file to perform a normal upgrade by typing
uu

uu alias

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alias uu='sudo apt-fast update && sudo apt-fast upgrade -y'

Note the
-y argument. This causes any prompts (such as the download confirmation) to be answered yes automatically.

Cacti provides an exceptionally easy to use system monitoring solution. Essential graphs are included by default, such as load average and memory usage. For additional graphs, download templates from Cacti’s website/forum or create your own.

During the installation of Cacti, you will be asked if you’d like dbconfig-common to setup MySQL for Cacti automatically. This creates a user and database for Cacti, and then imports the necessary data. If dbconfig-common is unable to configure the database, or you decline to use it, visit this guide for help setting up MySQL on your own.

Step 5 – Add a symbolic link to Cacti’s web interface

Choose a location to access Cacti from, such as
/cacti or
/stats and create a symbolic link with that name.

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cd /srv/www/notblog.org/public_html

ln -s /usr/share/cacti/site cacti

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /usr/share/cacti/site

Line 1: Change directory to the root of our site

Line 2: Create a symbolic link to Cacti’s web interface named cacti

Line 3: Optional Change owner and group of Cacti’s web interface to www-data

Step 6 – Finish configuration via Cacti’s web interface

Visit your Cacti installation with your browser of choice. Log in to the default administrator account:

Username: admin

Password: admin

Click Settings in the menu on the left. Verify each page of settings are correct, then visit this guide for more information on creating your first graphs.

Line 1: Enter the domain name this mail server will be used for as well as any other domains hosted on this machine. This will allow you to configure all of the domains to send mail to a single account. Separate the domains with spaces. If you aren’t using any other domains, enter the main domain only.

Line 2: This points postfix to the alias map at
/etc/postfix/virtual which we will be creating in the next step. This file will describe where to forward mail sent to certain domains and/or mailboxes.

Write the following to
/etc/postfix/virtual, adding domains and mailboxes you’d like to be forwarded:

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webmaster@notblog.org notblog

sysadmin@notblog.org notblog

info@notblog.org notblog

webmaster@maybeblog.net notblog

webmaster@ablog.com notblog

Then run
postmap to optimize the alias map. Postfix will read the file much more quickly if this step is taken.

BandwidthD renders great bandwidth usage reports and is a breeze to install.

Step 1 – Install bandwidthd to monitor bandwidth usage

You most likely won’t need to enter any custom configuration values during installation. Just make sure the interface to monitor is properly set, usually eth0.

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sudo apt-get install bandwidthd

Step 2 – Set up reverse DNS

By following this step your machine’s hostname will be displayed in the reports. Without this step, only an IP address will be displayed. Add a line to
/etc/hosts, consisting of your machine’s public IP address and its hostname.

Example /etc/hosts

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127.0.0.1 localhost notblog

198.211.97.47 notblog

# The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts

::1 ip6-localhost ip6-loopback

fe00::0 ip6-localnet

ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix

ff02::1 ip6-allnodes

ff02::2 ip6-allrouters

Step 3 – Create symbolic link to status report directory

Bandwidthd writes its reports to
/var/lib/bandwidthd/htdocs/ by default. We can easily serve these reports from a website by creating a symbolic link.

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cd /var/www/notblog.org/public_html

ln -s /var/lib/bandwidthd/htdocs bwstats

In this example, reports would be served at
http://notblog.org/bwstats/